Home Depot doesn't put their shelving on the sidewalk because people will take stuff. They do frequently put a gardening section in their parking lot, as well as rental trucks and equipment.

Really if this stuff was allowed there would be no big problem, even if home depot put a couple planters on the sidewalk for sale. The outside of their business reflects on them, so they probably at least try to make it sort of pretty.

I never really minded street hawkers though, or all of the window/street advertising you typically see in a large Asian city.

I agree we can (afaik), but I mean to address the main question, should we? I'm not saying Home Depot has a case for equal protection, but using the analogy to point out the absurd aspects of giving free public real estate to a private business (while there are other aspects that are not absurd).

I thought we, Hacker News commenters, decided? ;)

We would not be giving free public real estate to a private business. We would be giving a permit to use public real estate for a publically-endorsed purpose, a public good.

It's no different than allowing private bus companies to drive on public roads, or ice cream vendors to sell from their carts in a city park. We think those are good things, so we allow private businesses to do them.